Starting date : Jan. 2017 > May 2020
Lifetime: 42 months
Program in support : H2020-ICT-29-2016
Status project : complete
CEA-Leti's contact :
Stéphanie Le Calvez
Laurent Fulbert
Project Coordinator: Universita de Pisa (IT)
Partners: - FR: Optinvent
- GB: Vreo Innovation
- GE: Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Pilotfish, Sankt Gertrauden-Krankenhaus GmbH, TU Munich
- IT: Mectron, Orhtokey, University of Bologna, University of Pisa
Target market: n/a
Publications:
Investment: € 4.4 m.
EC Contribution: € 3.8 m.
| Stakes
CEA-Leti is contributing the Key Enabling Technology (KET) to the VOSTARS proposal. Since 2013, CEA-Leti has been developing new GaN microLED display technology, which offers advantages over standard OLED, LCOS or LCD display technology, including super high brightness (> 1 million cd/m² on a passive matrix) and lower consumption, because it is emissive technology. During the VOSTARS project, CEA-Leti has modified OLED active matrices to make them compatible with the GaN microLED process. GaN pixellization has been achieved, while microtubes have been processed on the CMOS wafer. The two parts were then aligned and bonded together to obtain a 853 x 500 pixel microLED display. Specific IC boards have been designed to pilot the display, while post-process correction has been required to correct LED driving and expand the image grey scale. Green epitaxy was chosen for greater brightness: 3000cd/m² has been achieved. Limited brightness is due to a non-dedicated ASIC, but the project scope does not include developing a dedicated ASIC. However, the former did contribute ensure progress in the technological field and allowed us to integrate a GaN-based display into an Optinvent wave guide optical module.
The idea of enhancing the surgeon’s perceptive efficiency with new Augmented Reality (AR) viewing methods has been a dominant topic of academic and industrial research in the medical field since the 1990s. AR technology would represent a significant development with the field of Image-Guided Surgery (IGS). The quality of the AR experience affects its degree of acceptance among surgeons; much depends on how well the virtual content is integrated into the real world spatially, photometrically and temporally. In this regard, wearable systems based on Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) offer the most ergonomic and easily translatable solution for many surgeries. Most AR HMDs fall into two categories - Video See-Through (VST) and Optical See-Through (OST) - according to the seethrough paradigm they implement. In OST systems, the user’s direct view of the real world is augmented with the projection of virtual information into the user’s line of sight. In VST systems on the other hand, the virtual content is merged with images captured by two external cameras anchored to the visor. With respect to technological and human-factor issues, both approaches have their advantages and drawbacks. In a hybrid OST/VST HMD, the VOSTARS project has identified a disruptive solution for improving surgical outcomes. In the last two years, the hybrid HMD has been developed in close cooperation with surgeons and design work has been dedicated to specific application. Off-the-shelf components and innovative displays have been embedded and an innovative calibration procedure allows the system to react virtually in real time. Final technical details are now being finalized before testing the system in clinical trials, whose results will be fundamental to immediate industrial uptake based on economic viability analysis.
IMPACT
Augmented Reality is a very promising research and development area and surgeons, who already use such technology, are excellent candidates for assessing a new HMD model. CEA-Leti wishes to extend its work on system applications and VOSTARS is a fine project and platform for meeting systems specialists. Moreover, this project has offered CEA-Leti the opportunity to embed its state-of-the-art microLED display in a full HMD system.
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